


taken to heart

by protoagaz



Series: zenzen daijobanai [2]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-31
Updated: 2014-05-31
Packaged: 2018-01-27 17:02:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1718030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/protoagaz/pseuds/protoagaz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel to "someday i'll be calm". After Dressrosa, Law returns to his crew, and an unexpected discovery.</p>
            </blockquote>





	taken to heart

The reunion is over, or at least most of it, yet at the same time Trafalgar Law can't grow used to the idea of standing on the deck of his submarine again. The familiar faces have passed before his vision - Penguin and Shachi tearful with joy, Jean Bart's fierce triumphant smile. He's been caught up in Bepo's rib-crushing hug, and felt his ears ringing for minutes afterward from the bear's yells of "Captain!" All the same everything feels nearly like a dream, too good to be true with the bruises of Dressrosa still sore on his body.

He walks through the hallways of his sub, nodding to the smiles and greetings of his crew, and tries to open his senses to the cool metal around him. Turning a familiar corner strikes him with deja vu, as though he'd never truly left; then another stretch of hallway looks more alien and the sense of dull detachment returns.

After a while, his pace slows until he buries his hands in his pockets and leans against the wall. The deck bobs faintly beneath him, with a motion more subtle than that of the Thousand Sunny, and the hum of flourescent lights above bring back memories of a hundred different missions. For a moment he marvels at how the stress and adventure of the past could have been underscored by such a quiet sound so much like silence, and the thought chokes in his throat like a physical reminder of what his life has been.

Long minutes later, Bepo's voice peeks into his consciousness with that constant mix of awkward curiosity. "Captain, are you okay?"

Law glances up at the bear and sees his black eyes glinting with faint worry. "I'm fine," he says, as he always has. "What is it?"

"I just wanted to show you something we did..." Bepo's voice drops to an all-too-familiar baritone tinged with embarrassment.

A smile crosses Law's face before he can control it. "Go ahead. Why wouldn't I want to see it?" He pushes away from the wall, curling his fingers into loose fists within his pockets against the lingering sense of loss.

The path Bepo takes is another familiar one, trailing its way back into the depths of the sub towards the dining room. Halfway there, the thought of a welcome-back cake sneaks into Law's head, and he cringes away from the thought of eating anything made with wheat so soon. He feels his steps lagging and forces his pace equal to Bepo's, thankful for the brim of his hat shielding his face from the bear's view.

When the door comes into sight Law takes a long breath, straining his senses for the slightest hint of bread and smelling nothing but the metallic tang of the nearby walls. He pulls his arms closer to his sides, bracing himself against a sudden overwhelmed nervousness. A low murmur of voices reaches his ears an instant before Bepo opens the door.

Nearly all the crew is crowded into the dining room, clustered at tables and standing near the walls, all of them serving to frame a long buffet table that nearly divides the entire room in two. Food overflows from the table - fat sandwiches and steaming soup at one end, cookies and dessert bars studded with chocolate and nuts at the other, all of it dominated by a two-layer cake that looms in the air, somewhat messily frosted in yellow, with a shambles of marzipan decorations atop it.

"Welcome home, Captain," Bepo chirps proudly from somewhere Law can't see. His vision is taken up by the food, floating before him with all the promise of future pain. An instant of hot anger flashes over him, spurred on by the unfairness of his allergy and the dread of having to deal with it again; he finds himself standing still, barely able to notice the smiling faces of his crew.

Bepo's voice floats faintly into his hearing again, and belatedly he realizes that the bear is speaking again. "What?" he forces himself to say.

A glance at Bepo reveals he's beaming, albeit shyly. "We made all this for you special, Captain. So you can eat it."

Something moves sluggishly in the back of Law's mind, hardly enough to help him understand. "What do you mean?"

"Well..." Bepo pauses, shuffles his feet a little nervously. "Because you got sick eating those sandwiches, I went and found out why, so we could make things for you and you wouldn't get sick."

"Yeah, Captain, all this stuff is made without wheat," Penguin chimes in. "I helped Bepo do the research and we got the cook to come up with some new recipes."

Law stares at the cake, finally notices no scent in the air but that of sugar. "You mean...all this..."

"You won't have to get sick anymore." Bepo smiles at him cheerfully. "A pirate crew needs to take care of its captain, anyway."

Law searches for words and finds none. For the first time, he pulls a hand from his pocket to tug at the brim of his hat, but even its shadow can't block the food from his sight. Suddenly he's surrounded by sensations, the presence of his crew, the hum of the lights and the sway of the deck, and the smell of the food: rich meat and sweet heavy tomatoes, the sharp twinge of ginger and onions' tearful tang, the thirsty weight of dark chocolate coupled with spicy cinnamon and clean vanilla, all of it without the weight of wheat lingering behind. A lump aches in his throat, reaching up in gentle tendrils of joy to sting at his eyes, and he blinks the tears back before looking up.

"I'm back."


End file.
